MTV survey on happiness

MTV Research: The Future of Happiness

What makes 12–24 year olds happy? That was the topic of a study that MTV commissioned Social Technologies to conduct earlier this year. The findings, which hit the newswires on August 20, 2007, surprised many.

“We knew friends and technology would be important to this demographic, but going in we also had the preconceived notion that 12 to 24 year olds were slightly indifferent, self-serving, and perhaps even a bit apathetic,” explains Andy Hines, Social Technologies’ director of custom projects, who led the study. “The biggest thing we learned was never to judge a book by its cover.”

Well, I guess that is a big step for a lot of people, to get around stereotypes of teens. I'm fascinated by the fact that MTV chose this topic to study. It seems to me to be a very positive approach to learning more about youth culture and hopes. I look forward to hearing more about this, and if anything useful comes of it.